'Unsustainable, overwhelming' Covid burden on schools

[LastGoldenDaysOfSummer]

Ofsted finds school staff 'exhausted' from ‘firefighting’ amid Covid crisis – and that 'last-minute' DfE decisions aren't helping

www.tes.com/news/unsustainable-overwhelming-covid-burden-schools?fbclid=IwAR0hhEWbw0JML_n__3WxhgzxkTNjQs6Pnc_0GEC1rVf5Y5ddWvT-5d1sR-c

Yes, another schools one. But evidence of what teachers are going through in the face of a total lack of support from some parents, the LEAs and the government.

When we're not trying to avoid...

Even now, during isolation they are just sending work home. There is no excuse for not providing that lesson remotely the tech is there in schools.

The tech really isn't there. Some staff have provided their own webcams for this to happen. Our school Internet speed (controlled by the LA) is woeful so everything lags. We finally got given webcams, 2 for a department of 12. Providing narrated lessons and teaching in school is enough of a job as it is. It would be impossible to do more.

I'm not especially worried about catching it. I'm early 40s, in decent health. If I get it, it's probably not going to seriously harm or kill me. I'm single with no dependents, so if the worst happens, I'm leaving no one behind except my parents and sibling. I'm pretty fatalistic.
But this is unsustainable. I can't do my job properly. I can't take the books in today and give them back next lesson. I can't hover over the kid who loses focus to get him on track. I can't sit with the kid who struggles and quietly help. I can't meet a student at lunch time for a chat about how to tackle a task.
Some of my colleagues are working in cupboards because we're not allowed in shared workrooms. Some have no access to a kettle for a brew. Some of my colleagues are working in their cars in their free periods.
Corridors are being used as classrooms for kids who can't cope in full classes - so they're in full view of everyone moving about. The knock on is a noise problem which is a problem for everyone.
I only teach exam classes. I don't know what's happening with exams but I have to keep my students calm about it . I've planned what I'm doing right through til June so that I know they're going to be as okay as I can make them. It's relentless for them and for me. I'm worried about their exams and their well-being, but I plaster on a smile every day because they need me to be in control.
And the most galling thing about all of this is the seeming obsession here with making it all a competition. I'm not saying my job is harder than that of a nurse on a covid ward, because it's patently obviously entirely different. But when posters constantly tell us that we're lazy, work shy moaners, it gets pretty wearing. That's the bit that's really unsustainable for me. I didn't cause this shit. I'm just trying to deal with it like everyone else.
We're doing our best. If your child's school's best isn't good enough for you, @gottakeeponmovin take it up with them.

I'm a secondary TA.

On the surface things are fine. As a whole, the teaching staff are committed to and passionate about keeping schools open. We only have sections of 3 year groups isolating currently.

It's business as usual, and it reminds me of the classic swan analogy- beautiful swan gliding with legs going like the clappers underneath.

I'm unusually on-my-knees exhausted this evening though, and it's hard to articulate why, as the nuances of why it's hard in schools at the moment are hard to describe beyond sensationalist 'teachers are scared' and other such black and white things that people can readily relate to.

My school is a 'naice' state school, who've done a great job of Covid measures (masks required in corridors from day 1, staggered lunches and designated year group areas for breaks etc).

Like everywhere else though we have a fair number of staff off and 1000+ students who are living the same uncertain life we are. Which bubble will collapse next? Lessons plough on but it's not 'normal'... lots of mental health issues in classes and behaviour is getting worse by the day. Cover teachers get increasing grief. These small things have a snowball effect, and it's a vicious circle.

The reason I'm exhausted is I've spent the week firefighting, and that's nothing to do with my personal worries about catching Covid (I'm fucked anyway if I come across it, and I accept that risk)- it's just that (in my experience) schools currently are a very weird blend of uncertainty and normality, and that makes things tough for students and teachers alike.

Yes, teaching staff are exposed. No, they don't have it necessarily 'worse' than other jobs also exposed. They are dealing with young people who thrive on stability and certainty, and our children don't have that at the moment. It shows, no matter how much teachers try their very hardest to maintain the status quo and give their students a normal school experience.

I haven't articulated that well, but it's a hard thing to put into words.

Wave that would be fine if angry parents would stop saying that teachers are rubbish, or provide rubbish provision, or implying that we all sat around doing nothing during lockdown. I didn’t and don’t know any colleagues who did.

@Pomegranatespompom you're right these are two totally separate issues, working in dangerous conditions now shouldn't be seen as payback for teachers who supposedly didn't work hard enough first time round. That's sick. Schools are not safe places for teachers right now.

@MrsHamlet

I'm not especially worried about catching it. I'm early 40s, in decent health. If I get it, it's probably not going to seriously harm or kill me. I'm single with no dependents, so if the worst happens, I'm leaving no one behind except my parents and sibling. I'm pretty fatalistic. But this is unsustainable. I can't do my job properly. I can't take the books in today and give them back next lesson. I can't hover over the kid who loses focus to get him on track. I can't sit with the kid who struggles and quietly help. I can't meet a student at lunch time for a chat about how to tackle a task. Some of my colleagues are working in cupboards because we're not allowed in shared workrooms. Some have no access to a kettle for a brew. Some of my colleagues are working in their cars in their free periods. Corridors are being used as classrooms for kids who can't cope in full classes - so they're in full view of everyone moving about. The knock on is a noise problem which is a problem for everyone. I only teach exam classes. I don't know what's happening with exams but I have to keep my students calm about it . I've planned what I'm doing right through til June so that I know they're going to be as okay as I can make them. It's relentless for them and for me. I'm worried about their exams and their well-being, but I plaster on a smile every day because they need me to be in control. And the most galling thing about all of this is the seeming obsession here with making it all a competition. I'm not saying my job is harder than that of a nurse on a covid ward, because it's patently obviously entirely different. But when posters constantly tell us that we're lazy, work shy moaners, it gets pretty wearing. That's the bit that's really unsustainable for me. I didn't cause this shit. I'm just trying to deal with it like everyone else. We're doing our best. If your child's school's best isn't good enough for you, *@gottakeeponmovin* take it up with them.

@MrsHamlet

THIS!

[quote Smelliethenelephant]@Pomegranatespompom you're right these are two totally separate issues, working in dangerous conditions now shouldn't be seen as payback for teachers who supposedly didn't work hard enough first time round. That's sick. Schools are not safe places for teachers right now.[/quote]
AND THIS!

These discussions would get a lot further if there could be an acknowledgement that some pupils were failed during lockdown and parents are concerned it could happen again. Posters are not necessarily lying when they tell of their experience, it is irrelevant if one teacher was working 12 hours a day doing X, y, z if that was not that parent's experience.

I could not agree more.

I find this thread unbelievable. People who are actually working in schools are telling it how it is in their school. They are actually closing schools due to not enough staff.

And people reply that lockdown education wasn’t good enough so schools need to stay open.
What do they not understand
‘schools aren’t going to be able to stay open unless some real quick intervention happens’.

So then we will be back to what it was like in the spring. If it was so bad why wouldn’t you want to try and support staff in any which way you could to avoid it ??
I just don’t get it at all.

For all those school staff on their knees or at crisis point in your schools I hope to god someone listens soon. Regardless of what happened in spring you deserve a safe workplace.

@motherrunner my kids school is classified as outstanding so I did not choose to send my kids to a substandard school. However they were certainly not outstanding during lockdown

These discussions would get a lot further if there could be an acknowledgement that some pupils were failed during lockdown and parents are concerned it could happen again. Posters are not necessarily lying when they tell of their experience, it is irrelevant if one teacher was working 12 hours a day doing X, y, z if that was not that parent's experience.

I could not agree more.

Exactly this

I did not choose to send my kids to a substandard school

What a shit comment to make. School choice isn't really a choice.

Your child's school being rubbish over lockdown should be all the more reason for you to want safety measures to keep school open.

For all those school staff on their knees or at crisis point in your schools I hope to god someone listens soon. Regardless of what happened in spring you deserve a safe workplace.
It sure as hell won't be the government or some posters on here.

These discussions would get a lot further if there could be an acknowledgement that some pupils were failed during lockdown and parents are concerned it could happen again. Posters are not necessarily lying when they tell of their experience, it is irrelevant if one teacher was working 12 hours a day doing X, y, z if that was not that parent's experience.
I think teachers do acknowledge this. We are also pointing out that not every school was like this.

Some kids are being failed right now because of the government insistence that schools must stay open. A decent rota system would be far better.

The variable efforts are why some people have limited sympathy. It was pretty obvious which schools were doing very little. Teachers who said they couldn’t work because they had young children etc well that grated, many other people also in the same position.

But working conditions should be safe, benefits everyone and really should be a basic provision,

These ‘let’s talk about lockdown’ posters are once again assuming that the argument is for school closures.

Why are they not arguing for safer schools in order to keep them open instead of constantly harking back to March in a non-productive fashion?

Teachers who said they couldn’t work because they had young children etc well that grated, many other people also in the same position.

I'm still yet to find anyone who can explain how I could have physically done live lessons with a 7mo and 3yo at home. I worked every evening and was available for a few hours every morning. I think most teachers would have happily been furloughed.

I did everything that was asked of me for lockdown 1. Provided work for all my classes and later in the lockdown provided live (for exam classes) and recorded lessons (non exam classes) for all my classes. Despite being a technical idiot I managed to understand and do well on the remote learning platform even though the nature of my subject doesn't lend itself to it as much as others. I had meetings upon meetings about CAGs, registering and checking up on form group daily. What I didn't really have was any behaviour issues to deal with which was nice... that was my experience (and my DH did similar too).

Some people just want teachers on the defensive. It’s a derailing tactic.

I haven't articulated that well, but it's a hard thing to put into words.

You articulated it perfectly, GreenOwlBlue

Unfortunately new updated utterly ridiculous guidance has come out.
Re mask etticute and there is no way to implement it except for lining them up and supervision each single one for each stage.

It's unworkable but bet these useless empty words they will now say... Safer than ever... It's so ridiculous....

These discussions would get a lot further if there could be an acknowledgement that some pupils were failed during lockdown and parents are concerned it could happen again. Posters are not necessarily lying when they tell of their experience, it is irrelevant if one teacher was working 12 hours a day doing X, y, z if that was not that parent's experience.

Of course some schools didn’t get it right first time around.
But the point is if we ‘keep schools open as they are’ you will very quickly be finding out if they can get it right the second time around.

I don't think many teachers are even asking for sympathy, they are just getting on with it.

That's the trouble with Covid 'school' threads on MN- it's who shouts loudest. Not necessarily representational.

I was signed off for a week last term. Still very, very anxious.Our deputy head had half a term off with depression caused by the stress of setting up a complete remote learning platform with constantly changing goalposts and parental pressure.The Head of Science has just been signed off with stress after collapsing at work.
All this ‘signed off’ nonsense does give teachers a (deservedly) bad name.
I teach in a school where we did do live lessons in lockdown on the summer term and it was tough but nobody ‘collapsed’
We have two teachers off now and have sent home some pupils to isolate but no-one is getting hysterical about it -we are delivering lessons to the remotely while we teach the rest of the class in situ.
Masks are pointless -we wear them in corridors because the Dfe mandates it but not in class because it is pointless anyway and because the children deserve a measured reaction instead of a ridiculous panic.
I feel so sorry for those with DC in places where the staff seem to be competitly ‘stressed’ In RL teachers are just adapting and managing -unlike a minority of posters on MN who say they are teachers.
I feel
Immense sympathy for parents trying to deal with all this, with tough situations themselves, while the bleating ‘teachers on here gave the vapours.